Yes, we still think that state Sen. Tim Carpenter (D-Milwaukee) owes his colleague Sen. Mary Lazich (R-New Berlin) an apology for remarks made during a heated debate in the Senate over some election bills favored by Lazich.

No, he did not say, as we originally thought, that Lazich hates blacks and Latinos, he did say that Lazich "hates that blacks and Latinos are coming out ..." before he was interrupted. He told us Wednesday afternoon that he meant to conclude with "to vote for Democrats."

We apologize for the error. Accusing Lazich of hating that minorities vote for Democrats is not nearly the same as saying she hates black and Latinos. »Read Full Blog Post

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No apology necessary. Republicans are all racists; why else would they be trying to stop voting in minority areas of the state? I'm white and I here racism all the time from republicans I know personally, but they are too stupid to realize what they are saying and too chicken to put it out publicly.

Crud....if Republicans were all racist then why do we support Clarence Thomas, Allen West, James T. Harris, Condi Rice, Sen. Tim Scott, Dr. Ben Carson and many many more people who happen to be blacker than our current president??? Why is that?

How would "...hates that blacks and Latinos are coming out to vote for Democrats" be any better for Carpenter? It implies that she doesn't hate whites coming out to vote for Democrats. (or implies that she hates it, but not as much as she hates blacks and Latinos coming out to vote for Democrats) Either way, Carpenter called Lazich a racist. I'm actually glad that he said it. Let the Democrats show their true colors. They apparently can't win an actual issue-related argument, so they resort to their usual name-calling. Let 'em.

Chucksa, What makes Lazich a racist?? I think that a realist is a better word. Maybe she uses common sense and logic, instead of desperation, emotion and stupidity in her thinking. Look at some facts and then comment.

Tim Carpenter is far from a coward. In addition, he possess a lot of class. Mary Lazich is an ideological follower trying to act like a leader. She's been caught in the truth and you guys don't like it. Too bad.

Mary Lazich is as mean-spirited as they come with respect to voting and the right to vote. You can tell that by the legislation she sponsors with pride and defends with zeal. She ignores testimony from the League of Women Voters, who have huge experience with election observers, to pass observation standards that can put people within 3 feet -- that's one arm's length -- of people registering to vote. She ignores the testimony of clerks about the burden of MORE new laws from the state, when the clerks are doing their best to ENABLE the vote.

Lazich is very careful not to say "I detest" so-and-so, but her attitude and actions belie the reality. Every move she has made as the chair of the Election and Urban Affairs Committee has been geared toward making voting more difficult in Wisconsin, especially for citizens in large urban areas and rural areas. She doesn't have to speak it to reveal her intent.

Rachel Maddow was dismayed on Wednesday by new Michigan legislation that opponents call the "rape insurance" law.

The legislation, passed in December, makes it illegal for insurance plans to cover abortion. Instead, women now have to purchase riders to their insurance in order to obtain coverage for abortion services. The law goes into effect Thursday.

"Your insurance cannot even cover you getting an abortion if you got pregnant because you were raped," she said.

"No one plans on having an unplanned pregnancy, but if you want to make sure your abortion is covered in case you get raped, you now have to buy special stand-alone coverage for that in Michigan."

"Michigan, you are amazing," Maddow added. "I continue to maintain that over the last few years, Michigan state government has become way more insane than anyone nationally gives them credit for."

How is making voting times consistent across the state, suppressing votes?? Everyone in the state gets to vote for 2 weeks prior to elections, M-F, from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. There is also absentee voting for people who aren't around for elections. There is also an official election day when people can vote. This is the day when voters actually used to vote, with no other options. Why should a couple areas of the state have extra days to vote????? Why is that FAIR to the REST OF THE STATE???? Why do the votes of people in a few of the counties matter more than the votes in the rest of the state? Those screaming voter suppression are not making any sense. If people cannot figure out how and when to get to the voting booths with all of the options that are available, then maybe they don't really care about a who or what they are voting for. Talk about some REAL issues HATERS!

And your problem with making it easier to vote would be? Oh, never mind. We get it.

Voter suppression the new GOP strategyhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/harold-meyerson-making-it-easier-to-buy-an-election-than-to-vote-in-one/2013/11/19/980fd138-514f-11e3-9e2c-e1d01116fd98_story.html